Two years ago, the Biden administration announced $7 billion in funding for a nationwide network of hydrogen hubs meant to kickstart production of the alternative fuel.

Now, the Trump administration has cast doubt over the future of the program — including the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub, or ARCH2, which features projects in Ohio.

Despite the turbulence, industry leaders said they see a bright future for hydrogen in Ohio.

“We’re building businesses in this state regardless of that federal funding,” said Bill Whittenberger, executive director of the Ohio Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Coalition, at the group’s 2025 symposium, held Oct. 27 and 28 at the Honda Heritage Center in Marysville, Ohio. In his view, federal funding ​“makes things go a little faster, [but] there’s a strong business case for all the things we’re doing here.”

Many see hydrogen as necessary for decarbonizing hard-to-electrify operations, such as steel and glassmaking, as well as some transportation sectors.

Today, however, few industries use the fuel at a meaningful scale — and very little low-carbon hydrogen is available.

The Biden administration’s hub initiative meant to change that by bringing down the cost of low-carbon hydrogen, which can be produced with renewable energy, nuclear power, or natural gas with carbon capture and storage.

The initiative sparked detailed planning for dozens of projects throughout the hub regions. In Ohio, proposals took on different shapes: One developer wanted to use solar power to make hydrogen for buses in Stark County, while another planned to derive the fuel from a chemical plant’s waste stream. Still others looked to expand storage and refueling operations in central and northeastern Ohio.

The Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act also created a lucrative federal tax credit for clean-hydrogen projects, an incentive that successful lobbying preserved through the end of 2027 in Republicans’ massive budget bill signed into law in July. But even with this federal support in place, the nascent industry has been on shaky ground. Some high-profile green-hydrogen projects were already floundering before this year.

The Trump administratibon’s October cancellation of federal dollars for two of the hubs that focused on hydrogen from renewable energy raised urgent questions about the viability of many hydrogen ventures nationwide.

The fate of the other five hubs remains uncertain. Last month, their names appeared on a leaked Energy Department list alongside a note to ​“terminate,” but the DOE has not confirmed their status.

Still, conference attendees emphasized, some hydrogen projects are moving forward in Ohio.

There’s the plan from American Electric Power’s Ohio utility to power data centers with fuel cells, for example. It’s part of a broader AEP partnership with Bloom Energy to acquire up to 1 gigawatt of fuel cells to help the giant computing facilities get online faster.

“Speed to power trumps all other things,” said Amy Koscielak, a senior business development leader for AEP.

At the outset, though, the systems planned in central Ohio for Amazon Data Services and Cologix Johnstown will run on natural gas. Eventually, AEP has said, they could switch to run on hydrogen.

Earlier this year, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio green-lit plans for AEP’s Ohio utility to provide the systems’ output exclusively to those customers, although appeals are pending.

Hydrogen also features in vehicle offerings from American Honda Motor Co. Although its hybrid cars that can use either hydrogen or battery electric power are built in Marysville, most of them go to California.

In general, battery-powered electric vehicles are probably the best option for ​“small mobility,” said Gary Robinson, vice president of sustainability and business development for the company. Indeed, hydrogen cars remain niche at best. But ​“trucks, buses, industrial equipment — all of those things, in our opinion, are perfect candidates for hydrogen,” Robinson said. The company is exploring shipping and aviation as other potential markets for fuel cells.

Ohio also has a few projects looking to harness electrolysis — a process that uses electricity to separate water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen. If the electricity that feeds into electrolysis is clean, the resulting hydrogen is clean too.

Dayton-based Millennium Reign Energy supplied electrolyzer equipment to provide initial fill-ups for the fuel-cell hybrids that Honda has made in Marysville since last year, and it has provided fueling equipment to other locations in the United States and abroad. The company plans to add two fueling stations for its Emerald H2 network in the Dayton area by April, CEO Chris McWhinney told Canary Media.

Plug Power also relies on electrolyzers to produce its hydrogen. The 28-year-old company’s first big order back in 2007 was for fuel cells to power pallet trucks at a Walmart distribution center in Washington Court House, Ohio, said Mike Ahearn, vice president for North American service. He did not talk about projects the company would do as part of ARCH2, if it moves ahead, but he did describe work outside of Ohio.

Plug Power remains on track to start construction next year on a wind-powered hydrogen plant capable of producing around 45 tons per day in Graham, Texas. ​“We are on a good trajectory,” Ahearn said, adding that the company’s goal is to turn a profit next year — something it hasn’t done yet over its almost three decades in operation.

Independence Hydrogen, another ARCH2 project-development partner, concentrates on local hydrogen production and distribution. While federal funding remains uncertain, the company still hopes it can move ahead with the Ohio project that would be part of the hub.

The company’s method of making the alternative fuel doesn’t fit neatly on the ​“hydrogen rainbow” that indicates whether production relies on renewable energy or fossil fuels.

Rather, the source would be an industrial waste stream from the INEOS KOH plant in Ashtabula, Ohio. The plant makes potassium hydroxide and other chemicals, and releases a waste stream that is almost all hydrogen. Independence Hydrogen would basically ​“clean up” the gas by removing water and other impurities and then compress it for transport.

But ​“I need an offtaker,” said William Lehner, chief strategy officer for the company. ​“We would love to provide that project.”

Indeed, most companies at last week’s symposium would love more customers, but it’s unclear how quickly interest in the alternative fuel will ramp up if federal funding for ARCH2 and other hydrogen hubs remains in limbo and if tax incentives aren’t extended further.

The DOE’s ​“hydrogen shot,” launched in 2021, aimed to scale up the production of clean hydrogen and cut its cost to $1 per kilogram — an 80% reduction — by 2031. While developers would still cover at least half the project costs at the hubs, federal grants would have reduced total expenses and let them charge customers less for their hydrogen. The hope was that the lower prices would stoke demand.

The Trump administration’s actions to dismantle decarbonization policy also raise questions about clean hydrogen’s future. Without sticks that punish greenhouse gas emissions or carrots that make zero- and low-carbon fuels cheaper, a lot of projects face a difficult road ahead.